Rosberg negotiates tire chaos to win British Grand Prix

Go! Go! Go! – Lewis Hamilton was on pole and the Briton made the perfect start as he streaked away from Sebastian Vettel.

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Wonder of Webber – Mark Webber suffered some damage to his front wing soon after the start of the race and the Australian slipped to 15th on lap one. But the Australian made a superb recovery to finish second.

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Hamilton hopeful – Hamilton lead in the early stages of the race, but then disaster struck.....

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Hamilton punctures – Hamilton's hopes of a home win at Silverstone ended after just eight laps when his Mercedes suffered a puncture.

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Shredding rubber – Not for the first time this season, tires played a key part in how the race panned out.

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Vettel retires – Championship leader Sebastian Vettel had looked set for victory but had to retire with gearbox problems.

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Hamilton recovery – Hamilton recovered to finish fouth, but was unhappy about the tire problems drivers experienced at Silverstone.

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Champagne moment – Nico Rosberg raced to his first British Grand Prix victory and second of the season as tire problems dominate at Silverstone.

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Story highlights

Nico Rosberg wins British Grand Prix for first time

Mark Webber fights back from poor start to take seccond

Ferrari's Fernando Alonso finished third

Championship leader Sebastian Vettel retires due to gearbox problems

Earlier this month Formula One's governing body punished Pirelli and Mercedes for holding an unsanctioned tire test -- at the British Grand Prix it was Pirelli meting out punishment to the elite racing series.

British home hope Lewis Hamilton lost the lead when the left-rear tire of his Mercedes began to unravel on the eighth lap at the demanding Silverstone circuit.

It was the first of four incidents as Ferrari's Felipe Massa, Toro Rosso's Jean-Eric Vergne and McLaren's Sergio Perez also had their races ruined by failures to the exact same tire.

Hamilton -- and the 130,000 British fans who streamed into Silverstone to support the 2008 world champion -- were left counting the cost more than most.

Massa, who was running in fourth before his tire failure, added: "What happened is unacceptable.

"It was very dangerous for all of the 22 drivers racing. In order for us to race we cannot have these problems. They need to do something for our safety."

In a short media conference after the race, Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery explained: "Today wasn't foreseen. We've seen a different type of problem.

"We are still doing our analysis so we have to go away and understand what's happened and get to the core of the issue. We take these things seriously. It was one tire, the left rear. When we have the answer we'll let you know."

Pirelli had wanted to introduce a new tire construction at the Canadian Grand Prix earlier this month but failed to get all the teams to agree to the change at a meeting in Monaco.

The weakness of the tires had been masked in Montreal but the high-speed nature of the Silverstone circuit in the heart of England brutally exposed their frailties.

"Pirelli appeared to come up with a solution with a different construction and that was being offered from Montreal," said Red Bull's chief technical officer Adrian Newey.

"Two or three teams vetoed that because they were worried it would suit other teams more than them and because of that short-sightedness we have F1 putting on the worrying performance it did today and concerns over driver safety."

The sport's governing body, the FIA, are coming under pressure to force through a change in tires with or without the consent of the teams.

As a result, the issue is due to be on the agenda at a meeting of the Sporting Working Committee on Wednesday ahead of the German Grand Prix with Pirelli invited to attend by the FIA.

Later Sunday Rosberg was subsequently handed a reprimand after the race for failing to reduce his speed under yellow flags, which are waved to warn drivers to slow down, but no further sanction was imposed.